Boutique Call

Taking a cue from our  Boutique Calls from back in the day, we decided to take a look at some of the shops that may be flying under the radar, and get a little background as well as their input on relevant industry topics. And since social media chatter is inescapable these days, we decided to pick the brain of the folks at Indelible (or iNDELIBLE as they like to spell it), an 11-year-old, NYC-based digital shop that calls itself an “experience commerce company.” Speaking of “experience commerce,” Indelible was nominated for a Webby last year in the Best E-Commerce Site category for its Rich & Skinny Jeans destination.  Seeing as they’ve launched  several social media campaigns  as of late spanning from cosmetics to film, we decided to take a look at Indelible and get the self-proclaimed “web video pioneer”‘s take on the much-discussed medium.

How does your agency define social media activation?

Social media activation is the process whereby consumer insight is leveraged to ignite enthusiasm and dialogue with a brand. At Indelible, we break consumers into two groups:

1. Existing Customer Base: This consists of engaging a brand’s current customers through owned media including but not limited to; email Database, loyalty Programs, in-store signage, current Facebook fans and current Twitter, to name a few. These consumers require different strategies to be activated as they already consumer and know the brand and thus don’t need to be sold. Activation of this group means exciting the base, sparking a two‐way dialogue.

2. New Customers: These are consumers who are not currently a part of a brand’s owned media, however, determined by research, to be the most likely to purchase products or services in the category. Activation of this group requires tapping into their passions while creating brand awareness. The ultimate goal is to use social to usher them through the conversion funnel.

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Do you ever think about what’s happening right this very moment at (insert name of some cool place you visited once that sticks out in your mind)? There’s this little bar on the coast of somewhere called something. I had a few beers there once. I wish there was a blog for that bar.

Learn about DECON NYC.

Name/Location: DECON/New York City, New York

Motto: Context. Concept. Content.

Founded: 2001

About: “We are a unique collective creating savvy, visually articulate and conceptually solid cultural works.”

Clients: Netflix, 2K Sports, Kubler Absinthe, Sony Ericsson, Right Gin, Universal, Teva, Zune, Yahoo!, Fuse, IFC

Something Fun: “It’s always fun.”

More: “Booty Call”

Name/Location: Driven. Royal Oak, MI.

Motto: “If you’re willing to accept good you’ll never achieve great.”

Founded: “March 2005. By two account guys Sam Chiodo and Kevin Woods and two creative guys Brian Cusac and John Cymbal. All four spent time at pretty much every shop in Detroit.”

About: “DRIVEN is a small full-service “think-tank” agency in Royal Oak, Michigan, made up of professional renegades and rebels from the world of “big” advertising. A team of account directors, creative thinkers and media planners who offer the experience of working on some of the largest accounts in the world, from automotive, to home furnishing retailers, to soda pop companies, to everything in between. Their years of experience and relationships within the industry allow them to draw from the best of the best in ideation. Their creative stable includes award-winning writers and art directors, as well as, artists, musicians, strategic thinkers, media planners, and dreamers, all of whom are DRIVEN to deliver cutting edge solutions for select clients.”

Clients: “Jets Pizza, Wayne State University, Frankenmuth CVB, Founders Brewing, Inc., United Road, Mike Bass Ford, Bass Mazda and Locust Development.”

Something Fun: “When you party with Driven there’s a 50% chance you’ll end up in jail. Our agency culture is about having fun. If we’re not having a blast and doing great work, what’s the point?”

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Agency/Location: Substance/Portland, Oregon

Motto: “Always do better.”

Founded: 2007 by Stephen Landau and David Lowe-Rogstad, two creative directors who were fed up with dinosaur agencies in a digital world.

About: We are digital brand specialists. We design and build websites and branded applications, develop brand and content strategies, and provide user interface/user experience (UI/UX) consulting. In short, we do great work for clients that give a shit.

Clients: The Portland Trail Blazers, bambu, Travel Oregon, ClimatePath

Something Fun: Fridays are all vinyl, all classic rock, all day.

Web site: findsubstance.com

Agency/Location: STICK and MOVE, Philadelphia, PA;

Motto: Have conversations with people. Don’t talk at them. It’s a philosophy we call Conversationality.

Founded: 2005. By Jared Scott (Account Guy) and Steve O’Connell (Creative Guy). Both are Crispin Porter + Bogusky alums.

About: We actually see ourselves as less of an advertising agency and more of a brand architect. To us, advertising implies a few pieces of communication that have a limited shelf life. But a brand is something that lasts for years and years and has a momentous impact with people.”

Clients: Schwinn, Leatherman, vitaminwater, Powerade, Kimberly-Clark, TradeKing, Yakima, Advanta, T3, Simple

Something Fun: (in their words) Agency culture = 15 percent late nights + 25 percent highly-caffeinated beverages + 20 percent arguing + 20 percent jumping on grenades + 10 percent beer Fridays + 5 percent Fark.com + 5 percent “Shhh, we’re on a call with the client”. Did we mention that they’re also responsible for the Bionic Lobster? How dare we! (stickandmove dot com)

Send us your Boutique Call submissions at matt@mediabistro dot com.

More: “Get Yer Booty Calls Here”

Name/Location: Zig, Chicago and Toronto

Motto (mantra): “ideas in their most powerful form”

Founded: 1999 in Toronto

About: “Quickly earned a reputation as one of the leading communications companies in Canada. This led to the opening of its first United States office in 2006, when it acquired edgy Chicago boutique Hadrian’s Wall. The agency has since continued to grow both offices, and includes a powerful digital group and growing media platform. It’s also full of creative talent that regularly brings home awards from Cannes, The One Show, the Clio Awards, Art Directors Club, Communication Arts….blahblahblah you get the idea.”

Clients: IKEA, Molson, Best Buy, Virgin Mobile, Pfizer, Toshiba, Elysian Hotels & Resorts, Unilever, Scotts, New York Fries, Mr. Sub, ethel’s chocolate lounge, Lithia Motors and more.

Something fun: “In the spirit of being able to heckle our colleagues, we often place bets pitting our countries against each other. Most recently, the Chicago office placed a friendly wager for the Olympics as to which country would take home more medals. To be fair, we offered a 90-medal spread. The winner was to receive something intrinsically of the losing country &#151 so IF Toronto had won, we would have sent them apple pie, or a Ford pickup, or maybe Bon Jovi. Thankfully the US eked out the win, but we are still waiting for OUR booty (ed’s note: boutique???), and we’re callin’ them out! We want some maple syrup! But we’d settle for some politeness and good manners.”

Check ‘em out at zig ideas dot com.

More: All the Booty you’ll ever need.

Agency/Location: Walrus, New York, New York (walrusnyc dot com).

Motto: “Sadly, we are motto-less.”

Founded: In 2005 by a bunch of ex-staffers from Mad Dogs & Englishmen.

About: “We think the world has a love-hate relationship with
advertising, and ad agencies. Mostly they hate it, but every once in a
while they’ll see something that they love. We believe that one loved
ad is worth more than 100 hated ones. Maybe that’s our motto…”

Clients: Grand Marnier, Radar Magazine, Food Bank for New York City, Very Short List, CW-X Conditioning Wear, Howard Stern On Demand, Return Path, 23/6.com, and more.

Something Fun: They have a real, live animatronic spokes-walrus AND a shaveable beaver on their site.

As always, send us your Boutique Call submissions at matt@mediabistro dot com.

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Name/Location: Behavior Design; New York, NY.

Motto (sorta): “A compelling user experience is what separates a great interactive product from a good one.”

Founded: “…2001 by a leadership team of Web development veterans…”

About: This shop focuses on UX and interactive storytelling. So guys, is it about the story or the medium?

Clients: HBO, National Geographic Channel, AARP, MoMA, The Onion, UBS, XM, E*Trade and a bunch more.

Something Fun: Build trubeverage dot com, where you can learn all about the real blood supplement, Tru Blood, for the HBO series TrueBlood. This blood’s for you (Check out a spot for TruBlood, after the jump).

More: See all the Boutique Calls, ever, right here.

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Name/Location: Cole & Weber United &#151 Seattle, Waaaaaaashington

Motto (sorta): Welcome to the advertising industry’s most colorful Web site. (Ed’s note: two cheers for lack of motto)

Founded: Cole & Weber was created in 1934, but the United part came on in ’05, when they were gobbled by WPP. Wait a second, I thought this was Bouttique Call? No matter!

About: Mike Doherty, James Mackenzie, MJ Keehn, Richard Jacroux and Todd Grant run the show.

Clients: ACLU of Washington, Champs Retail/Nike, Dell, Colt 45, Carlo Rossi (Ed’s note: kudos to CWU for obtaining two of the classiest alcoholic beverages out there!) and moreeeee.

Something Fun: Their Web site; check it out.

Get more Boutique Calls (Boo-tee kahls): Here

Name/Location: Stir &#151 Milwaukee, Wisconsin

Motto: Stuff you haven’t even thought of

Founded: June 2000

About: Co-founded by Steve Koeneke, Partner/CD & Brian Bennett, Partner

Clients: BMW, Schwinn, City of Milwaukee, Optima Batteries and more.

Something Fun: Every year on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving, STIR commemorates its fallen soldiers on a day known as Captain Dan Turkey Day. Captain Dan (Ed’s note: not to be confused with Lt. Dan) returned from the war in Iraq to pursue a career in advertising,which he unfortunately ended after a mere 8 hours. In remembrance of this noble yet feeble casualty, STIR welcomes back each and every one of itsagency alumni for a lavish feast and daytime binge. Captain Dan has yet to participate.

Click continued to see where they keep their trophies.

More: “Boutique Call: Intro and Nonbox”

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